(KPRC/NBC News) KATY, Tex. - A school superintendent who laughed at bullying allegations during a recent school board meeting says he did so out of shock, not amusement.

At the meeting, Gregory Gay claimed Katy schools superintendent Dr. Lance Hindt and other students shoved his face in a urinal, cutting his lip in an incident in 1978. The man said Hindt bullied him so badly in junior high school he'd considered suicide.

Hindt was said to have been seen laughing after Gay's statement.

On Monday, the superintendent clarified his reaction.

"Please know my reaction this past Monday night was one of shock," Hindt said. "It wasn't one of disrespect or insensitivity. I was purely shocked."